Proposed issue for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth

The Post Office felt that the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Philip Mountbatten, later Duke of Edinburgh, was worthy of new stamps.

However, as the announcement was made on 9 July, and the wedding was on 20 November 1947, it believed there was insufficient time to prepare an issue.

Instead, it decided to distribute a new slogan postmark featuring Wedding Bells with a lovers’ knot enclosing the letters ‘E’ and ‘P’, to be used from the wedding day until the end of November. The postmark dies were sent to postmasters by registered mail, with separate instructions forbidding their use until 20 November.

Cancellation design by R H Higgins

There was wide dissatisfaction that stamps had not been produced, many citing the fact that Australia issued a new stamp showing the Princess on the wedding day, although this was fortuitous as the stamp was not intended to celebrate the wedding and had been planned some months before. Canada did issue a stamp for the wedding, but it did not appear until February 1948. The Post Office used the defence that time did not permit the design and printing of the number of stamps that would have been needed, especially during a time when extra stocks for Christmas were being produced.

Specimen envelope with postmark

Despite no new stamps, many orders were received by the Post Office from overseas asking for the special postmark, and here it was happy to oblige.